Napper Design MicrositeFollowing the success of the Napper Architects website portfolio, Napper commissioned me to design and develop this interactive introduction to the forthcoming services of their brand design division.
Without an existing portfolio of work in this market, Napper were keen to highlight the skills and experience of their inhouse brand design specialists until a full portfolio was ready, and asked me to come up with a solution that would not only draw the attention of high-end marketing directors, but would do it in a unique and entertaining way.
They were looking for something completely unconventional, which engaged the visitor on a more interactive level than a standard portfolio. The site was essentially a slideshow of nine key projects for some of the world's most high-profile brands, and while the navigation itself was completely unique for its time, it was still entirely foolproof in its simplicity.
Working closely with Napper's brand design specialist Alistair Stripp, I developed a simple 3D engine in flash so that images could be floated in space. Alistair was keen to convey a sense of 'going somewhere' using spacial illusion to conjure a feeling of being part of something tangible.
Using the shards of the Napper Design logo, I exploded the images into space, each of the shards reflecting a piece of work. Clicking through the shards one by one takes the visitor from windy chaos to the quiet comfort of Napper Design.
Originally, the idea was to make the navigation less rigid, where the user could leap from shard to shard with reckless abandon. However, after testing the site we discovered that most people had difficulty grasping the notion of floating in space and found it too challenging to explore.
At the time, using a three dimensional navigation system like this had never been done before within the context of a corporate website, so the very idea of floating content in space was completely new to them.
Visit the Napper Design flash microsite.
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